“Of course, my prince. Princess.” Niki dipped her head toward each sibling respectively, then turned back toward the five other soldiers that were with her, directing some of them to go ahead of us and ready the king and queen, while others helped clear the docks of thefaecrowding around.
Cautiously, we filed off the ship and down onto the docks. Callum and Niki lead theway,their voices low as they spoke, though Niki would occasionally look our way as we walked.Caelia stayed near them, though she seemed intensely focused on our surroundings, rather than on her brother’s conversation.
Though, I couldn’t say I blamed her. The Isles werestunning.
The landscape reminded me of our time atEchenBay. The water was slightlymore bluethan teal, but the sand was the samenear-white. Overhead,flocks of colorful birdsflew,squawking to one another—very differentcompared to the griffinsI’dbeen raised around. Past the sandy shore and small coastal town laid a dense forest—one that weseemed to beheading toward.
Once our group, along with the Titan Wolves—whosupposedly refusedto be left behind—reachedthe outskirts of the forest, we paused. Itwasn’tuntil then that I noticed the new group of soldiers that had trailed behind us.
“Alright. From here on, everybody needs to grab onto one of the soldiers,” Caelia said, turning back to face us.
“Why would we do that?” Quinn questioned.
“Some shadow wielders have what we call hastened shadows. They can maneuver through shadows so quickly that it cuts the time it takes to travel by shadow into a fraction. These soldiers have thisability, andwill help us get to the castle much faster,” Callum explained, though he looked as though it pained him to divulge this information to us. Based on the murmurs that arose from our group,I felt itwas safe to assume Callum looked that way because the mentioned abilitywasn’tcommon knowledge.
Tilting my head to look at my husband, I raised my eyebrows in a silent question.
He gave me a cheeky smile, then ever so slightly dipped his head toward Rayven.
Ah, I thought.Of courseour very own shadow wielder would have that ability.
Because a shadow wielder could only shift one other person besides themselves into their shadow forms at a time, it took a few moments to pair everybody up with a soldier. Everybody except thewolves, whowould be waiting here in the small ocean town with a few of the soldiers until we returned. Callum had noted that the castle we were heading towasn’tequipped to house the giant creatures,anyway.
Atlas and Lychen didn’t appear too pleased, but once some of our group started taking on shadow forms, they seemed to understand a bit better.
Intelligent creatures, those wolves.
Teagan and Byn seemed put off by the fact that their wolves wouldn’t be nearby if needed, their muscles tensing when they heard the news, but we weren’t exactly given another option.
Byn paired up with Callum,and Caelia with me. They wanted to present us to their parentsthemselves,they’dclaimed. Rayven refused a soldier, and I noticed that when Matea turned to find a pairing, he headed her way instead.
Teagan had talked softly to Margo for a few moments, trying to calm her sister, but nothing worked. That was, until one of the female soldiers headed over and made a flower bloom behind her ear. Margo seemedslightly more at easewith that soldier after seeing her produce theplant,her shoulders dropping at the sight.Maybe she’djust needed to be reminded that the Islandersweren’tso different from her and what she knew, after all.
Once we were all settled, I gave Byn a quick kiss on the cheek, then grabbed Caelia’s hand.
In an instant, we took on the shadows and speared forward at a speed faster thanI’dever traveled before. Even when flying with a griffin or with my own two wings,I’dnever experienced speed like that.
The forestwe’dbeen standing near breezed by in a blur, making it difficult to track where we were and where we were headed. I kept my gaze ahead, trying to keep track of some landmarks as we passed:adiamond shaped pond, a tree so wide you could carve a home into it, and a field covered in many wildflowers I’d never seen before—the most striking being a variation of one flower type that had black and red petals.
And the entire way, Byn’s worries only seemed tobuild. Considering we were walking into theOcreinIsles blindly—a place that had been closed off to the outside world foralmost adecade and a half before the Battle of Shadows—Icouldn’tsay I blamed him.
Eventually, after what felt like ages but also no time at all, we pushed through anothercopseof trees to reveal CastleAvyer.
Named after the first King of theOcreinIsles, CastleAvyerwas formed out of black earth and colorful crystals. Though, just havingheardabout the structuredidn’tdo the palace any justice.
The foundations, pillars, and accents were all that black rock, butthe majority ofthe castle was made up ofcrystalsthe color of a glowing sunset—colors that matched the sky. They must have found giant crystal clusters below and made them spread into shape. The castlewasn’tquite as large as The Haven, but it wasimpressivenonetheless. The grounds around the castle were clean,comprisedof organized gardens and shrubbery, with an occasional fountain or training ring. The closer we got, the more I admired the beauty of this hidden gem.
It seemed so…peaceful.
We stepped out of the darkness, the sun beginning to headbeneaththe horizon as we started toward the castle. Though before we could even step foot onto thecastlegrounds, another group of shadows flew our way, moving as quick as we just had been—if not a tad faster.
A burst of fire came to life in front of us, shattering that illusion of peacefulness I had been grasping at.
From out of the flames came a couple that I could only assume were King and QueenRividianthemselves.
Before we could utter a word, thequeen spoke, her voice full of pure fury and disgust.
“We extend a helping hand during your time of need, King Thorntier, andthisis how you repay us?” she seethed. “By bringing aNorthernerto ourdoorstep?”
